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Ant Attack
Background/gameplay Space Invaders for the Atari 2600 was the first ever arcade to home game license, becoming a huge best seller, which it included 112 games with multiple playing variables. In the game, a group of invaders marched from one side of the screen to the other, dropping down a notch closer to the player’s laser cannon whenever they reached a screen edge, firing at the player’s cannon all the while. The player had three bunkers to take cover under, although they would become damaged with the player’s and invaders’ laser fire, then disappear altogether if the invaders came down too close, and if the invaders made it down to the very bottom of the screen, the player was "invaded" and the game would end (along with if the player lost all three of their laser cannons due to being shot by invaders would also end a game). A high-scoring Command Alien Ship would also fly overhead several times during a wave as well. Pepsi Invaders is a hack of Space Invaders, with several changes made to the gameplay, along with it being for only one player and there only being one game. The Coca-Cola company had commissioned a game from Atari to give to their Atlanta office employees, limiting the print run to only 125 copies. Ant Attack, in turn, is a hack of Pepsi Invaders, changing the graphics, some wording (the giant "AA" letters instead of "COKE" at the top left of screen), and the shields have the letters "AA" inside. And although it is changed graphically, the Command Alien Ship still retains the Pepsi colors. Differences Even though Pepsi Invaders has the same basic gameplay as Space Invaders, several changes were made, most notably in that the only game included ran on a time limit of three minutes; once those three minutes were up, the game would end. The player is allowed unlimited lives though, unlike with only three in the original. Once a game has gone down to the last nine remaining seconds, the time (at the bottom of the screen) and laser cannon position indicators would flash, and the words "COKE WINS!" appears onscreen once time runs out. With this hack, though, there is no wording on the screen once the game ends. There is also no way to be invaded, as the invaders will travel to the row right above the player’s laser cannon, but not come down any closer. Graphically with this hack, nearly all sprites were changed, as the laser cannon is a different shape, and has a brown horizontal stripe running through it, as well as the Command Alien Ship being shaped differently. The color of the Earth was changed as well (red this time around, instead of the original brown), along with the Invaders being ants. Controls *Move laser cannon–joystick left and right *Fire–button *Start game–game reset switch or joystick button Scoring *Bottom row ant–5 points *Row two ant (from bottom)–10 points *Row three ant–15 points *Row four ant–20 points *Row five ant–25 points *Row six ant–30 points *Command ship–400 points Trivia *There was no box with artwork produced for Pepsi Invaders, as it just came in a styrofoam shell. *Additional hacks of Pepsi Invaders include Pepsi Wins, Ed Invaders and UFO #6. Links Atari Age Ant Attack page Category:Atari 2600 BOTSS Category:Games Category:Hacked BOTSS